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Demo Monkey Rides Again!

I may have mentioned this, but I am once again the Edmonton Demo Monkey for Cheapass Games. I’ve been a huge fan of their games since the company got going a few decades ago, so much so that I was one of their original Demo Monkeys in that program’s first incarnation. The company restructured and their demo program went bye-bye for a while, but it is back and so am I! If you aren’t familiar with the history of Cheapass Games, I highly recommend heading to their site and looking over their history and wares.

In a nutshell, Cheapass Games started as a company which sold you really cool games, minus all the fiddly bits like pawns and dice. The assumption was, as a gamer, you would have pawns, dice, tokens, money, and so on that you could grab from other games you had. So why sell those to you again? Instead, Cheapass Games sold you a clever game and maybe a cardstock board to go with it. You provided the rest and hey presto! You’re playing a sweet little game for a fraction of the cost of other board games.

Flash forward to the last few years, and they’ve re-worked a few things. They still have great games, but they’ve fleshed out and added pieces to a number of their original cheapass offerings (those they haven’t are available for the low, low price of free on their website). Kickstarter has been a boon for their business model, meaning they can often realize clever niche games and deliver them affordably. For example, it is unlikely that Tak, a fictional game from Patrick Rothfuss’ The Kingkiller Chronicle would have seen the light of day if not for the combination of Cheapass Games and Kickstarter.

All of this is to say two things:

I’m running a demo of Kill Doctor Lucky at Apt to Game (5722 104 Street) tonight at 6pm, and I have few little things to give away to all participants, so you should stop by if you want to learn how to play it, or see the 19.5 Anniversary Edition of the game. There is also Oracle of Delphi to learn and play, so plenty to keep your little gaming fingers busy.

I’ll be reaching out when my schedule permits, but if you know or run a game store or cafe and you’d like me to come show off some Cheapass Games for an evening, please contact me. I’m also available to teach the games to groups, so if you’ve got some event going on, or just a bunch of friends who want to learn some new games, drop me a line and we’ll see what we ca work out. I don’t charge for demoing, though I won’t say no if you buy me a cold cola for my time.